"The only-begotten Son of God, wishing to enable us toshare in his divinity, assumed our nature so that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, he turned the whole of our nature, which he assumed, to our salvation. For he offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the crossas a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched captivity and cleansed from all sins. Now in order that we might always keep the memory of this great act of love, he left his body as food and his blood as drink, to be received by the faithful under the appearance of bread and wine.

O precious and wonderful banquet that brings us salvation and is full of delight! What could be more precious? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this sacrament? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, it nourishes our minds and the soul is enriched with an abundance of all the spiritual gifts.

It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that it may be beneficial to all, as it was instituted for the salvation of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we celebrate the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.

It was to imprint the immensity of this love more deeply upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfilment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation."